UKGTR Season 5 Endurance Masters - Magny-Cours (GP) - Jul 15

[Kerr]

That was tough to say the least.

Had a nightmare qualifying session and just could not get a lap in.

I wonder if I had some kind of problem that people could not see me? I was getting hit all over the place and in one instance I stayed very wide to let a faster car past. From a good distance away I could see the car heading straight at me, bang and i was on grass damaged. He made no reaction to move from the line as if he could not see me, but his car seemed to be fine after the impact. Strange!

I realised in the qualifying session I was really trying to drive too fast for the conditions.

In the race I decided to take my time and stay smooth which seemed to work. The only thing was the hard wet tyres lasted about 15mins and it was drifting all the time after. I think I only had one real off which is not bad considering, lots of nearly moments thought.

I was surprised how easy the Viper CC was to hold in a drift. I only should have remembered to adjust rear wing. Stupidly left it at only 7



I'm happy to finish 11th in race with a GT3 car. Well done all class winners and anybody else who finished, it really was tough out there

[picnic]

Replay plus provisional results and standings

[Jeffrey]

I wonder if I had some kind of problem that people could not see me? I was getting hit all over the place and in one instance I stayed very wide to let a faster car past. From a good distance away I could see the car heading straight at me, bang and i was on grass damaged. He made no reaction to move from the line as if he could not see me, but his car seemed to be fine after the impact. Strange!

If you join while people are on track, your car won't load for them, untill they go back into garage.

[Kerr]

Looks like running out of fuel has cost you Purdie. It shows me in 10th and you further behind

[Jeffrey]

Unofficial Lapchart

[Kerr]

Forgot to apologise Ruskus. I think once out of the hairpin I got in your way. The traction was so poor in the Viper I could not pull out the way fast enough.

Other than that I think I was more than fair. I slowed right down a few times when leading faster cars were about.

I also never made much of a fight with the slightly faster cars who had to pit early

[Jeffrey]

Forgot to apologise Ruskus. I think once out of the hairpin I got in your way. The traction was so poor in the Viper I could not pull out the way fast enough.

Can't even remember, so I can't be that bad  . And it doesn't matter, as I went prrrrt anyway. Next time I want a BOOOOOM!

[will16v]

That was difficult - 1st full race in the wet - i don't think i would have got to the finish if i had taken anything much more powerful than the Z3.
But - had a play around with the set up in the wet this aft - just to be sure, and seemed ok, but way off the pace - was suprised to find myself in 12th after the first few laps, due to early pit stops i think...

But drove ok, not too many mistakes - everyone overtaking me drove well considering the conditions out there.

Good drive, and a bit more experience with wet conditions for me.

Grats to all who entered - sorry if i got in anyones way also.
 

[Luis Branco]

First and above all sorry for the bump Darren 
I saw you flashing but hesitated and thought to be best not to try to pass there and that cost you dearly.

As for the race, went out with intermediates and stopped very early changing for hard wets on lap 3. By the end of the race I had no tires whatsoever and the rubber around 120º and the Motec indicating 90% tire worn. I had great difficulties for the last 5 laps or so and if the race lasted one more lap Ribeiro would have taken the 2nd place.

Grats to Simon and Zacari for the wins.

[Simon Gymer]

tactics were key here and simon gymer nailed it! good racing! 

Yeah, but I was very lucky too. Second wet race in a row and 2nd win in a row. I'll be called the rain meister soon.

I started on completely the wrong tyres . With a damp track I thought intermediates, but for 15 minutes the rain bucketed down and I totally struggled round on them, making some large errors and losing a lot of time . I decided enough was enough and pitted to take hard wets and fill the tank up the brim (stupid as I had loads left at the end). This dropped me way down the order especially as I forgot to turn the engine off in the pits. I was "oi crew, come on", they were "oi driver, idiot, turn your engine off so you don't explode while we put petrol in", driver looks sheepish "doh". 

I was surprised the hard wets were only a little better, safer but not much quicker and it was raining more and more. I was toying with pitting again for soft wets but in the end I decided it wasn't worth it to lose another massive amount of time. For the next 40 minutes I basically struggled round trying to get any temperature into the hard wets. Finally the last third of the race the rain abated and my hards came into play. Unfortunately they were half worn by then so getting decent lap times was hard, but they were the right tyre choice so even half worn I was happy to be on them. Lap times came down a bit and I was holding it together, but not comfortable still. As others stopped to make their pit stops I picked up a few places and with 15 minutes left I decided that I was definitely not pitting again and stuck it out to the end to do 65 minutes on hard wets. Was only in third then, but unlucky for the guys ahead as Leuven who was leading by a country mile decided his car looked better with only 3 wheels and then Luis was having some problems of his own. Eventually I caught Luis and as he collided with another Porsche I nipped through and never looked back.

I don't think i deserved that win, but you take what you can and ultimately staying in there and making fewer mistakes (I say fewer, I went into the gravel at least twice) and being consistent paid off I guess, but I'm not entirely sure how that win happened, I gratefully accept it.

Congratulations to Carl on the GT1 win. That's a great result in the Lister, proving that it's not such a bad car after all and certainly good in the wet.

[DynoDaz]

First and above all sorry for the bump Darren 
I saw you flashing but hesitated and thought to be best not to try to pass there and that cost you dearly.

Don't worry about it mate.  These things happen.  I only lost 1 place but soon got that back.

Intermediates were completely the wrong choice to start with and it showed.  I went off at T1 twice in the opening laps and was stuck in the gravel for a long time each time.  This effectively ended my race.  By the time I pitted after 10 minutes I was already a lap down to everyone apart from the last two.  I changed to hard wets and although they weren't perfect I could at least keep on the track. 

I soon caught Psuedo and was shocked to see that Gizmo was still 55 seconds ahead.  So I set about catching him.  It took me all race but I eventually got past with a couple of minutes to spare.  Sorry for the small taps DG, I don't think they caused you too much trouble, but contact is contact and it shouldn't have happened.

Doing 70 minutes on hard wets isn't recommended. They were completely worn at the end, which made it like driving on ice.  

[purdie]

Looks like running out of fuel has cost you Purdie. It shows me in 10th and you further behind

doh!  i thought i cracked it as i had crossed the line, maybe cos i didn't actually finish it did that ??

[Jeffrey]

As expected, Dunlop rubber works great in wet areas 

[Kerr]

Looks like running out of fuel has cost you Purdie. It shows me in 10th and you further behind

doh!  i thought i cracked it as i had crossed the line, maybe cos i didn't actually finish it did that ??

I did actually go past you on the start finish straight before I started my last lap. I must have crossed the line before you. Unless it classes non finishers at the back of the pack who finished the same amount of laps behind

[BACKO]

Entertaining race from start till finish.

Qualification was great fun, as the track dried up and everybody was getting out towards the end to do a last quick lap. I had a good one and had a nice pole.

The race started dramatically. The track was damp so I went for intermediates....bad choice  . They were only getting till 60 degrees and Backo overtook me quickly. He showed so nice and fair racing tonight, well done Backo  .
Zacari and Paul were quick to follow up behind me, and once they overtook me around lap 9 I thought it was time to get in pits for soft wets and again a full tank.
By that time I was 30s behind the nr 4, Leuven, and was gaining (as he was in NGT  ). I was doing some quick laps there and I was gaining on Paul about 2s a lap.
By that time I noticed my engine's health dropped around 2% every 5 minutes, and I was only at 80% at that time. So from around 40 minutes I had to short shift and try to keep it in one piece.
Zacari and Backo went in the pits, so I was 6s behind Paul when I went in.
I went for a splash of fuel and hard wets and I came out just behind Backo and Zacari. We past Paul when he was in the pits a lap or so later.
We then had a nice 3 car train for a few laps, which looks great in the wet. I had to put pressure on Backo, but also try to keep the engine alive. After a few laps he went wide at Adelaide and I could take 2nd and chase the Lister of Zacari.
I was a bit quicker, but I couldn't find a way past, as I was quicker on the wrong parts of the track. That Lister is pretty fast on the straight.
With 10 minutes to go I finally blew the engine which was said as I was in 2nd at that time. And being in 2nd with doing 2 stops was surprising to me. I thought race would be over when I had to come in for the first time.

Grats to winner in all classes.

THX Ruskus,what amazig race was again this night.Was my second wet race in my life and I really enjoyed them.But I choosed again wrong front tyres should be soft wet.Thx all for nice race and congrat to ZACARI!!!Well done mate!Siya soon on track.